7 Days Left – The Eliminator

7 days out and the excitement for the FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010 is building like a volcano ready to erupt!!

I have been keeping across all of the latest news and updates being published and there has been some recent articles outlining peoples predictions as to who the World Cup Winner will by employing the power of artificial intelligence, mathematics, flipping a coin, voodoo, macumba and the list of tools used goes on and on….

However I came across one article that was written by Damian DiDonato @ ESPNDeportes.com that caught my attention apart from the obvious reason. Read on to see what I mean.

Damian wrote of a statistical analyser engine of sorts dubbed “The Eliminator”. What is unique about it that instead of picking a winner it picks 31 losers by basing its results on statistics and historical trends to identify the traits of a champion and apply those criteria to the 32 teams participating in the FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010. It eliminates all selected until only one remains standing. let me break it down like a fraction for you…

So it starts of by assessing that no team ranked outside No# 60 in the world has ever won the World Cup so to kick things off it eliminated South Africa, New Zealand and North Korea.

Next to fall are Greece, Slovenia, Czech Republic and Serbia as no team who suffered more than one defeat in their respective qualifiers has won the World Cup.

One interesting fact is that no team who averaged less than 1.5 goal per match in their respective qualifiers has ever won the World Cup. This proves costly for Australia, Paraguay and Algeria and they are next to fall.

Not ever reaching the quarter finals also proves to be a disadvantage in your teams chances of World Cup Glory and fans of Ivory Coast, Ghana, Honduras & Japan bid farewell.

If you have previously come last in the World Cup then this is your time to pack your bags and leave as no one having this unwanted record has ever won the World Cup. Say goodbye to Mexico, USA and South Korea.

A perfect winning record in the qualifiers certainly builds up confidence however in this case its not a good thing as no team have a 100% winning record in their respective qualifiers has ever tasted World Cup glory, so we say “Afscheid” and “Adios” to Netherlands and Spain

If your team happens to be drawn in the same group as Brazil, no doubt your chances decrease dramatically in getting out of the group phase. That being said, no team who has ever been in the same group as Brazil has ever won the World Cup so we now say farewell to Portugal and Cristian Ronaldo (WOO HOO!)

It can be said that teams who pick foreign coaches are taking a gamble not to mention risking revolt from their countries fans. It would seem that it is also a bad omen as no team has ever won the World Cup with a foreign coach and hence England, Cameroon, Nigeria and Chile are all victims at this stage of the journey and they too leave us.

A very well known fact however an important on is that never has a European team won a World Cup outside of Europe so this means that Denmark, Switzerland, France and especially Germany and Italy have no chance in South Africa.

Now only three teams are left, these being Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. Now another interesting fact is that no team who is the current Copa America title holder has gone on to win the World Cup so this means that Brazil and their “Joga Bonito” will be packing their bags and watching the rest of the tournament from the hotel room or in a non-extradition country other than Brazil.

Uruguay vs.. Argentina in the FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010 final???

A few things to note if this ever eventuates:

1. There would be more red cards seen in this game then any other in history
2. The southern part of the South American continent would self-implode
3. There would be major Tsunami warning for all the pacific islands and as far as Australia (See Point 2)
4. Regardless of the result, their will be a meeting of public forces at the halfway point “Libertador General San Martín” bridge to sort things out after the game

There are a whole range of facts that support each team at this pivotal decisive moment, Argentina was a finalist four times, two of which (1930 and 1978) were in the southern hemisphere meaning that Los Portenos have an interesting record when tournaments are played in winter. In addition the last time they were in the same group as South Korea was in Mexico 86.

Los Celestes, meanwhile, comes with a much lower profile of its neighbour, but with great expectations. The Celeste won two World Cups in 1930 and 1950, years ending in zero, as in 2010.

Both have worthy pieces of data to get them over the line but in the end their can only be one winner so time to choose the last loser.

Since the inception of the “Balón de Oro", the team who has the player who won the award the year prior to a World Cup has never won it. This being the case this means that Argentina will not win the World Cup.

So after of the facts and figures have been calculated, Uruguay is the last team left standing. After 60 years of having that spare space in the trophy cabinet just waiting, this is apparently the year that the trophy cabinet will be complete.

VAMOS URUGUAY CARAJO – CAMPEON DEL MUNDO 2010!!!!!!!